Chapter Text
This universe seemed normal. Everything seemed normal, but he knew it wasn’t. For one thing, he noticed several extra scars and tattoos that littered his upper body, and the fact that he didn’t have a bed, just a mattress on the floor. Not to mention the absence of his fiancé. So when Michael came to work and the first thing Ray did was give Michael a hug, he knew something about this universe was extremely wrong.
"Ray. Why are you hugging?" The muddy red-headed asked as the Puerto Rican in question held on tighter.
"This universe sucks. I’m so sorry. Just really sorry. Sorry we didn’t find you sooner." Ray kept babbling, muttering sorry and holding onto Michael tightly.
"Ray, you need to let us know what’s going on." Ryan said, helping Jack pull off the now shaking Ray off Michael.
"It’s not mine to say this time." He whispered, locking eyes with Michael.
Great.
This universe had fucked him over some how, and if it shook Ray that much, he didn’t really know what to expect.
Later, when Gavin Gained his memories, the Brit could only stare at Michael in shock.
"God Michael. I’m so sorry. So bloody…" Michael was starting to freak out.
What the hell was wrong with him in this universe?
He was dead scared when the headache overtook him. Memories flooded into his head.
Drunk father. Druggie mother. Out on the streets. Starving. Fighting. Gangs, drugs, guns, scars, death.
Blood.
So much blood.
Michael’s eyes shot open and he bolted from the office, chest heaving to gain breath.
The guys had pulled him off the streets of Jersey. He lied, stole and even killed.
He was having a mental breakdown.
"Michael." Gavin gently knocked on the bathroom down," Open the door please."
When did he lock himself in?
Michael reached up slowly and unlocked the door. Gavin and Ray shuffled in and shut the door behind them. All three sat in the small space in silence.
"I…I-" Michael started to speak but Ray cut him off.
"We saved you. We said you could start a new life and you did. It’s been three years. You haven’t done drugs, you haven’t fought and you haven’t gone back in three years." Michael nodded, knees tucked against his chest.
"I still did all those things in this universe. I remember them. It’s so fucking scary. I’ve killed people. I remember that." He muttered, hugging his knees tighter.
"Honestly, it’s not going to be okay Michael." Gavin said slowly, "But as long as you never do it again, all always be there for you. This universe and our own."
"Thanks guys."
Ray smiled, “Team Lads?”
Michael gave a weak smile, “Team Lads.”
It took a few more minutes before Michael was ready to head back to the office. Ray and Gavin were supporting him the entire walk back to the office and as the three Gents watched the Lads come back. Jack was up and pulled Michael into a bone crushing hug.
"I’m so sorry Michael. I-I-" Jack tried to speak, but words failed him. He had obviously gained his memories when they were out.
"It’s okay Jack." Michael took a deep breath.
"Michael, it’s okay if you don’t want to tell us but…" Geoff started.
"No, no. You need to know. " So the six men sat down and Michael told them his story in this universe. No one interrupted him as he talked. He even told them things this universe’s Michael hadn’t hold them before. When he was done, Ryan and Geoff were speechless.
"Michael. You didn’t do any of that. A version, this version of you did, but our Michael didn’t. Don’t let this eat you up." Geoff said finally.
"It’s hard Geoff. It’s really hard." The younger whispered.
"I know, but we’ll be out of here soon. We all have memories of things we regret, but the thing about these are is that you didn’t do them." Geoff put an arm around Michael’s shoulder, and pulled him into a side hug, the younger man leaned into the embrace and nodded.
"Well, might as well get to recording, then I say we go out somewhere and talk." The group agreed, and Michael’s past turned into a conversation for later.
After a day of recording, with no real big events to comment on, Geoff took the group out for drinks, alcoholic or not; his treat.
Who would say no to that?
So there they were, six guys sitting in a booth, drinking and talking, trying to figure out their lives for the last couple weeks, bouncing from universe to universe; memories swimming around in their heads, when it all stopped.
Four men, armed and willing to use them, burst through the doors.
"Everybody down! No sudden movements!" Screams started, people beginning to run and panic but as soon as the sound of gunshots ran out through the bar, silence swept over them
"Like we said! Everybody down!" The six hunters moved with the crowd, moving around their table and moved to the center floor, sitting down.
Michael was watching the gunmen. The one calling orders was the obvious leader, but the way all of them were handling the guns and the situation lead Michael to believe that this was not something they did on a daily basis. He ordered them, from weakest to strongest. The universe’s memories flooded into his head, plans were made to make sure he and the rest of the guys made it out of there alive.
Just as he was about to move, Michael felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Ryan, who mouthed ‘Don’t do anything stupid.’ Michael just shrugged and turned back to the commotion.
The leader and the buffest guy were getting the staff to gather all the money; the other two who were guarding the rest of them were obviously nervous, sweating, pacing and whispering back and forth. Michael knew his best chance was to get those two down within a couple minutes of each other, neither of them would have he balls to shoot right away. The other two however, would.
The timetable ran through his head. Down the closest guy, disarm the gun, repeat, get a phone, call the cops, stall the other two for the cops to get here, don’t let anyone get hurt. Yeah that was the plan. Whether or not he’d be able to do it was another story.
Okay, now or never. Michael shifted his weight, ready to spring up as the gunmen paced around them again. He was up in a second, grabbing the guy by the collar and landing a knee to the gut, ripped the gun from his hands and brought the guys head to his knee. Dropping the now unconscious robber, Michael pulled apart the gun with skilled hands and made his way quickly over to the other guy.
"Hey, get back down or I’ll shoot!" Michael stared him down, shaky stance, sweaty palms. He crossed the short distance between them in two strides before the robber could blink and grabbed the barrel, twisting the gun out of his hand and landing a blow to the back of his neck with the butt. Taking a shaky breath, Michael disassembled the gun and grabbed Geoff’s phone, tossing it to the Gent.
"Call 9-1-1. Plan is to distract the other two long enough for them to get here." Michael said quickly, moving behind the bar to look for any sort weapon.
"Michael, please just come back-" Gavin started before the other two gunmen came back to the front. Geoff quickly hid the phone, turning it off. Michael quickly grabbed a bottle, slowly uncapping it.
"What the fuck happened? Who did this?" The leader turned to Michael, who was still behind the bar, "What the fuck are you doing? Get out here, hands up!"
Michael took a few slow steps before taking the bottle in his hand and flinging it at their faces, vaulting over the bar and using his momentum to try and get the guns out of the picture. He was lucky with his aim, nailing one guy in the eyes with the liquor, who screamed, dropping the gun to cover his eyes, and the other with the heavy glass bottle, who stumbled, but held steady mostly. Michael went after the dropped gun, tripping the still screaming man and nailing him in the gut and throat before aiming at the other who was getting back to his feet.
"Drop it or your dead!" He yelled. Michael stared him down from his position on the floor.
"Listen man, drop it, and disarm it and you don’t have to get hurt. The cops are gonna be here soon, and it’d be in your best interest to be charged with armed robbery, not murder." Michael said calmly, his voice hint on threatening.
"Drop it!" Michael’s gaze didn’t waver.
"I don’t want to shoot you. I really don’t." The robber glared and tightened his grip on the gun as Michael slowly stood up, leveling the barrel at his chest.
Just then sirens began blaring, their gaze broke just for a second before Michael surged forward, his gun dropping and getting a grip on the robber’s. They fought for a moment, before the police burst into the bar.
"Freeze! Put the gun down!"
Michael backed away, but they were caught in an awkward struggle and-
BANG!
The first gun shot was followed by several others as Michael and the gunman fell to the floor.
"Michael!" The guys immediately rushed to the Jersey boy’s side. Michael had both hands pressed against his right thigh, he was obviously in pain however he didn’t show any other signs of being hurt.
"Michael, your leg." Jack moved Michael’s hands to use his own.
"You are such a fucking idiot! Why the hell would you do that!" Geoff whispered angrily.
"Instincts and memories took over. Protect those who protected me." Michael mumbled.
"Very noble, but still stupid." Geoff and the others backed away as several EMTs ran over and pulled Michael onto a gurney. Geoff managed to get the EMTs to allow him to ride with them to the hospital and Ryan drove the others in Geoff’s car.
Michael wasn’t in terrible shape, but he still went in for surgery to make sure his leg was okay. Around two hours later he was in recovery, and being questioned by the police. Two weeks later he was being hailed as a hero, but more and more questions were being asked of him.
How did he do it? How did he know how to take apart the guns? What the hell was he thinking?
So, for the first time since he came to Austin, Michael with the help of Burnie, and Geoff, sat down in front of the entire office his past. Surprisingly, everyone took it in stride, even with some laughter after Blaine called out that he won the betting pool.
And life went on, until the guys remembered that they weren’t actually from this universe and had to finish the game to get home. Yeah, so everything wasn’t as hunky-dory as they thought.